Eckert & Ziegler Extends Supply Agreement with Sirtex Medical to Chinese Market

“We are glad that Sirtex microspheres have now received approval for China and that we will thus expand our long-term strategic partnership both in terms of volume and regionally", explains Dr. Harald Hasselmann, Executive Director of Eckert & Ziegler AG. "Since 2019, we have been active with our Radiopharma division in China, one of the fastest-growing healthcare markets, and are steadily driving forward the expansion of our activities. In doing so, we are focusing above all on customer proximity. With the opening of our own production facility in Jintan from late 2024, we want to provide the best possible support to our global pharmaceutical customers on site with the supply of medical isotopes and services and thus participate in the growth of the Chinese healthcare market."

“The signing of this supply agreement reinforces the already strong relationship between the two companies as Sirtex enters the Chinese market”, adds Grant Spindler, Global Head of Operations at Sirtex Medical Limited.

Radioembolisation or selective internal radiotherapy (SIRT) uses tiny radioactive beads inserted directly into the liver tumors. The clinical data of this form of therapy, which has been used since 2002, is becoming increasingly convincing. In February 2021, the renowned British National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) issued a positive recommendation for the treatment of advanced liver carcinomas with SIR-Spheres(R) Y-90 resin microspheres. The morbidity and mortality rates for liver and colorectal cancer in China are about twice the global average. In 2020, China had 410,000 new cases of liver cancer with 390,000 deaths and more than 550,000 new cases of colorectal cancer with more than 280,000 deaths (GLOBOCAN 2020).

To meet the increasing demand for radiopharmaceutical substances, Eckert & Ziegler is currently expanding its production sites. A new GMP facility was recently built at the Boston (MA), USA site. At the Berlin site, the GMP facilities are also being expanded: in the second quarter of 2022, a total GMP area of around 270 m² will be ready for operation, with further GMP laboratory space to be added. In Jintan (China), Eckert & Ziegler is investing up to EUR 50 million in the construction of a production facility for radiopharmaceuticals.

This expansion strategy positions Eckert & Ziegler as a global partner to the radiopharmaceutical industry, offering complete early development services in addition to the supply of isotopes, including process development and scale-up, CMC development, manufacturing and packaging, product release and stability programmes. This will enable the company to be a radiopharmaceutical contract manufacturer of phase I, II and III clinical scale products and for commercial use.